XXXMas
by Kaivern
Summary: After a certain observation of Alphonse's during the Hughes Christmas party, Edward decides to find a medium to deal with his pain and is later confronted about it by the Colonel. Parental!RoyEd, but it could possibly be seen as RoyEd as well.


No spoilers in this story cause it's pre-manga; Edward is fifteen in this story though. This is just some random Parental!RoyEd I came up with while I was talking with my friend. I tried to keep them in character the best I could.

Disclaimer: I have never owned FMA and will never own it. I just have myself a lot of FMA merchandise~

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Music rang out in the cheerful atmosphere as Gracia played the piano for the group of young children sitting eagerly at the foot of the piano. Edward watched in amusement as the kids sang along with the well known song, 'The Twelve Days of Christmas'. He could remember doing the same with his brother and Winry when they were younger.

Alphonse was standing next to him as they listened to the kids singing off key, so much so that Edward had to physically keep himself from wincing at times. They watched as Hughes ran back and forth frantically while snapping pictures of the group and cooing about how cute it was the whole time. Everyone had just rolled their eyes at him though; they expected no less from the man.

"Do you remember singing like that with mom when she was still alive brother?" Alphonse had asked him and Edward looked up at the suit of armor with a small smile on his face.

"Yeah," Edward nodded. "I was just thinking about that too, must be that Elric Telepathy that I keep telling you about." If his Alphonse could, Edward was sure that his little brother would be rolling his eyes at him.

"Again with that?" Alphonse asked his with an exasperated tone as he shook his head in mock disappointment. "When will you give up with that? You saw that movie over a month ago. The telepathy thing is not that funny anymore."

"Who said I'm not being serious here?" Edward grumbled as he grabbed his cup off of the table beside him to take a drink, only to find it empty. He stared into the empty cup as if it were not his fault for it being empty in the first place. Deciding that glaring at it wasn't going to do anything besides attract unwanted stares from people who didn't know him all that well, he decided that he might as well get some more eggnog to drink, maybe some food too.

"I'm going to get something else to eat." Edward told his little brother. "Want to come with me?" Alphonse was quiet for a second before he shook his head.

"No thanks, I think I'm just going to stay and listen to Gracia play the piano at little longer, she can play really well." He seemed to hesitate on what he wanted to say next. "It reminds me a lot of mom…" Alphonse's quiet voice trailed off and Edward gave his brother a sad smile before patting his metal arm with a resounding clang as automail bounced off of the armor.

"Suit yourself; just come to the kitchen if you get too lonely, or if Hughes starts to bug you." Alphonse nodded, the feathers trailing down his back swaying with the motion. Knowing that his brother would be fine, Edward made his way to the kitchen while ignoring the cold feeling growing in his stomach at the thought of his mother. He had to push past all of the people and kids running around the house to get to the kitchen. Majority of them he didn't even recognize, they all seemed like they were friends of Gracia's. The only people he knew at the party were his fellow military dogs.

And speaking of dogs, Mustang and his men were lingering in a corner of the kitchen ignoring all of the questioning looks that the other guests sent their way when they didn't recognize the group. Edward glanced over at the table that held all of the food and decided that it was far enough from the group that he could get in and out without them noticing, he didn't feel up to talking to them.

Well, it was more like he didn't want to hear any of the Colonel's snide remarks about his height.

He tried to walk over to the table without them noticing; he wanted that drink bad enough and was willing to take the risk of getting caught. But as luck would have it, Havoc glanced up right at that moment and locked eyes with Edward. The teen is question froze as the other blond sent a confused look in his direction. Edward slowly shook his head and motioned for him to go back to whatever he was doing before he noticed him by waving his hands. By the time Havoc realized what Edward was trying to do an evil look spread across the chain smokers face.

"Hey chief," Havoc called out to him and Edward made a promise to himself that one day he will get back at the elder man for this. "Where have you been this whole time?"

When the others turned around, Edward groaned. There was no escaping at this point, well, maybe there was, but he was pretty sure that no one would approve of him using the window as a means of escape.

"Well it's not that surprising that we haven't seen him." Mustang spoke up with a smirk plastered on his face. Edward sent a heated glare over at the taller man, just daring him to continue. Mustang's coal black eyes danced in amusement before he continued. "Since he's so short and all, I was worried that someone might have crushed him awhile ago."

_"Who are you calling so short that he would fall through the floor boards?"_ Ed hissed at the man, not at the usual ear drum shattering volume, but still loud enough to gain stares from the other occupants in the room. Edward's cheeks tinted themselves a bright red as he noticed all of the stares he was getting while Mustang's group was laughing at his expense.

"I just wanted to get something to drink." Edward mumbled under his breath. "I can't go anywhere without anyone first giving me crap." He stalked over to the tabled and filled his cup from one of the two punch bowls on the table.

"Hey," Breda elbowed Havoc as he managed to calm down enough to notice Edward refilling his cup for the third time. "Should we tell him that he is drinking the alcoholic eggnog and not the virgin one?" Havoc glanced over at Edward and had to keep himself from giggling like a little school girl.

The blond man shook his head as a silent no in order to keep the others unaware of what the kid was doing; there was no way that he was going to pass up the chance to see Edward drunk. So the two kept silent except for the occasional glances they threw over in Edward's direction to see just how far along he was. Though, the two of them let out a sigh of relief when the others left the room to do their own things, they didn't have to worry about the others interfering with their little experiment now.

Edward was grinning like a manic into his cup, apparently finding something hilarious about it as he giggled. His head was spinning and he felt pretty damn good, like he could do just about anything he wanted right now. The only problem was the slight nauseous feeling that was beginning to form in the pit of his stomach. He was about to fill up another cup when a hand slapped down onto his shoulder. Edward glanced over and saw the two fuzzy figures of Havoc and Breda grinning down at him.

"Don't you think you've had enough there chief?" Havoc had asked him with a laugh and Edward just stared up at him blankly.

"Hey guys!" Edward smiled at them with bright red tinted cheeks; the other two were thrown off at the sudden change in demeanor. "What'cha up to?" There was definitely a prominent slur in the boy's speech; it was pretty obvious that the kid was drunk. Edward tried to turn around to face them, but he stumbled over his own two feet and tried to grab a hold of the table for balance. Breda ended up having to catch him from falling to the floor when he realized that the kid had lost all depth perception and missed the table by a mile.

"Maybe letting him drink all of that punch wasn't such a good idea." Breda stated as he looked down at the giggling blond teen in his arms. Oh god the kid was so out of it.

"We should probably get him out of here." Havoc suggested. "Before someone notices; like Hawkeye." The man sent a nervous glance in the woman's direction, if she found out about this; she was going to turn the two of them into Swiss cheese!

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." Breda nodded before looking back down at the boy in his arms and froze. There, in his arms, was nothing but a wooden squirrel with its tongue sticking out at him. There was no blond teenager within the area. "But I think we have a problem. The kid's gone."

"How did you not notice him leaving?" Havoc nearly screeched at the man. Breda just shrugged as he placed the wooden squirrel down carefully, no need to ruin such craftsmanship in his opinion. "Now we have an underage, drunken alchemist running around the party!"

"Oops?"

Meanwhile…

Edward giggled as he weaved his way through the crowd. Havoc and Breda were so stupid, they didn't even notice when he slipped out of the man's arms and transmuted one of the chairs into that awesome wooden squirrel of his.

People were giving him weird looks as he passed by them, but he decided that he didn't really care. He couldn't feel anything! Everything was fuzzy inside of his head and it tickled slightly; the feeling left a semi-permanent smile on his face. He couldn't count how many times he has already tripped over his own feet from the short distance from the kitchen to the living room, but that did nothing to deter his good mood.

He decided to look for Alphonse and cheer up his little brother since he was in such a fool mood himself when he had left to go get his drink. Well at least he thought he was; he couldn't quite remember anymore.

As he continued to make his way through the crowd, he realized that he had gotten lost in the apartment. He stared blankly at the wall, trying to figure out just where the hell he was at while people continued to chat loudly behind him. He figured that if he was still around people that he should be fine and that Alphonse should be nearby as well.

What he didn't plan on though was running into the back of someone while he was stumbling around the room. The figure he had run into turned around to look down at him and Edward grinned up at the familiar figure of his superior officer.

"Fullmetal?"

"Hi Mustang!" Edward dragged out the greeting as long as he could before running out of breath and the man just stared down at him incredulously. Edward burst out laughing at the face the man made, it was just too funny!

"Edward?" The man began slowly as he noticed the bright red cheeks that the kid was sporting. "Have you been drinking?" The dangerous tone that the man had asked Edward did nothing to alleviate the laughter spewing from the kid's mouth.

Edward nodded enthusiastically at the man and Mustang frowned. "Yup! That was some really good eggnog. I think I'm going to go get some more now…" The boy trailed off as he stood up from the ground, apparently the boy had the attention span of a gold fish while he was intoxicated. The man grabbed Edward's shoulder to stop the him from running into the wall.

"I think you've had more than enough for tonight Ed." The man said as he pushed the kid towards the couch.

"Awww," Edward moaned disappointingly. "Really? Why can't I have any more?" Before Mustang could push him down onto the couch, Edward had wrapped his arms around the stunned man's middle and pouted. "Can't I have just a little more, please?" The teen had dragged out the please with wide, watery eyes as if he were going to start crying. Mustang looked down at the kid and had to wonder if this really was Fullmetal hugging him right now and not just some other kid from the party that looked a lot like him.

Mustang sighed as he pried the kid from him and forced Edward to sit down on the couch before sitting on the couch next to him. "Who gave you the alcohol?" Mustang asked Edward as he cursed the one who allowed this to happen because he was the one who was going to be stuck taking care of his drunken subordinate.

"I don't know." Edward practically sang with a wide smile on his face as he hugged the older man once more; Mustang felt a throbbing beginning to form in his temples. 'This kid is going to be the death of me' he thought as ran his hand through his hair.

"Sir?" The confused voice of Hawkeye reached Mustang's ears and he looked over at the woman. "Is everything alright?" It didn't take a genius to figure out that she was referring to Edward, who was still clinging to Mustang's side. Why, oh why, did the kid have to be an affectionate drunk?

"Thank the gate." Mustang muttered in relief. "You have to help me Hawkeye!" The man practically begged and the woman raised an amused eyebrow at him as she sipped her own drink.

"With what exactly?"

"With this!" He pointed at the teen whose eyes began to glaze over a bit while the other two talked. "I have no idea what to do right now!"

"You seem to be doing just fine with what you're doing now sir." She replied as she sent a strange look down at the teen when he meowed. "Just keep an eye on him and you should be fine."

"This is no fair." Mustang sighed as Edward nuzzled into his side affectionately, just like a cat, he mused. "Me being the one who has to watch him, I mean."

"Well you are his superior officer and he really has no one else who can take care of him at this point besides Alphonse, and he doesn't know what to do in this kind of situation." Mustang sighed again as he realized that she was right; he has had plenty of experience with being intoxicated and he knew what to do, it was just the fact that it's Fullmetal that is throwing him for a loop. He was too used to the angry teen who would rather drink milk than cuddle with any other human being and that was definitely saying something.

"I don't feel too good." Edward groaned pitifully from beneath Mustang's arm and the two of them looked down at the boy. Mustang noticed that Edward's bright red cheeks were now a sickly green. The Colonel blanched as he realized what was going to happen, he quickly pulled the kid off of the couch and pushed him towards the bathroom.

They made it just in time for the kid to spill his guts into the porcelain toilet bowl. Mustang grimaced at the sound of the boy retching; he stared as Edward's muscled bunched together each time he heaved. He made his way next to the kid and pulled back the long blond bangs so that they wouldn't get any of the stomach acid on them; it was the least he could do for Edward at this point.

It was at least a good half an hour before Edward felt confident enough to pull away from the toilet without throwing up again. He sat down and rested his head against the cool glass of the shower with a content sign; Mustang could only imagine the headache that was beginning to form in the kids head. He grabbed a towel off of the counter and threw it at Edward. The blond looked down at it confusedly as it landed on his lap before looking back up at the Colonel.

"Clean yourself up." Mustang clarified and he watched as the teen slowly nodded, wincing at that slight movement alone. He watched as Edward slowly wiped his mouth clean before closing his eyes again with a groan.

"I'm guessing that you've sobered up?" Mustang asked him and was pleased when Edward nodded. "Good, now I can ask you; what the hell you were thinking when you were drinking that alcohol?" Mustang growled at the teen, he could have yelled at the boy but he knew all too well what it was like to have a hangover and the kid already looked like he regretted what he did anyway. At this point he was just venting his frustration and making sure that Edward knew that what he did was stupid.

It was silent for a minute before Edward replied. "I didn't know…" His speech was still slightly slurred and he allowed himself a slight hiccup before trying to speak again. "I didn't know it was alcoholic at first."

Mustang was silent, that was a possibility. But Edward would have definitely been able to tell that it was alcoholic before he had gotten that intoxicated. He repeated this statement to the teen ,who just shrugged at him before looking in the direction opposite of Mustang. But unfortunately for him, the Colonel had caught the guilty, trapped look in the boy's eyes.

"You knew the whole time didn't you?" Mustang stated more than asked, he watched as the boy stiffened up and he took that as confirmation. "Why would you do that to yourself? You know that you are underage; do you know what would have happened to you if there were any other military officers at this party? They wouldn't have given a second thought about turning you in and you would most likely get a court martial for it!" Edward was silent as he listened to Mustang's lecture and that worried the Colonel slightly, usually the kid didn't have a problem snapping back at the man during them to voice his own opinion.

Mustang sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Just tell me why you did it Ed." When the boy didn't reply right away he was about to just give up and leave the boy to his own little sulk fest to return to the party when Edward's quiet voice spoke up. Mustang had to strain his ears to hear everything he was saying.

"It made me feel better and forget." Edward explained as he plucked off some of the lint on his jacket. "Alphonse and I were listening to Gracia play the piano earlier and it reminded us of mom, she used to do the same thing for us during the holidays." Edward trailed off and Mustang sent a sympathetic look down at the teen knowing just how touchy of a subject it was for him.

"Even so," Mustang spoke to him softly and Edward looked up at the man sadly. "You shouldn't drown your sorrows in alcohol; it's not healthy for you." Edward nodded in consent and Mustang ignored the little voice in the back of his head calling him a hypocrite, but he didn't need to let Fullmetal know about that. Alcohol was already a crutch for him and he would do his best to keep it from becoming one for Edward.

Mustang offered his hand down to his subordinate and Edward blinked up at him. "Come on." Mustang waved his hand as he jerked his head towards the door of the bathroom. "We still have a party to attend to if I am correct, and we should go ask Maes if he has any pain killers to spare for that headache of yours." Edward nodded but still didn't lift his head high enough to look the man in the eyes. Edward's automail hand clenched around the man's hand as Mustang hefted Edward back on his feet.

Before Mustang could open the door, however, Edward's voice stopped him.

"I'm sorry." Edward whispered and Mustang looked back at him, surprised. He didn't think that the teen would apologize to him. A warm, unknown feeling bloomed in his chest as he realized that the boy was being sincere with him. He couldn't place his finger on the feeling either so he just let it be as he ruffled the teens long hair, pulling some of it out of the high pony tail it was bound in.

"Just promise me you won't go and do it again, Fullmetal."

Edward nodded at the man with a slight smile on his face. "I promise."

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I didn't do bad did I? I was kind of iffy on this fic.


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